Who: Elijah & Katherine What: Talks about love and things while Katherine's trying to force down a human dinner When: Early May Where: Elijah's apartment Rating/Warnings: Language, sass Status: Complete!
While Elijah didnāt technically have a taste for human food (though, human food was in now), he still liked to cook for others. He also still had to eat around others to appear normal and fit in. It was particularly important when there were work dinners. Heād had more practice feeding from people and had managed to avoid killing if he was sensible about feeding. He also had a feeling that things could have been worse if Elijah was daggered for longer than a few minutes outside of the dreams. If it had been when Elena had stabbed him, he could imagine that peopleās lives would have been worse off.
But he wasnāt worrying himself about that for tonight. Heād gone for seasoned chicken. It was only a little garlic, lemon-pepper, and oil, but he figured it was good enough. Plus, heād made rice to go with it and some vegetables.
āHow have you been? I know the sun is no longer your friend, but has anything else popped up?ā
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Katherineās humanity was on borrowed time, and it was true - she and The Sun werenāt on good terms anymore, and the only thing that stood between it and her being burnt to a blackened crisp was the presence of an enchanted lapis lazuli amulet, dangling from a simple chain around her neck. All the stylish rage when it came to vampires, and the only thing that let them walk during sunny days.
The rest was coming, soon. Life liked to make things particularly difficult for her, didnāt it, not handling the transition like an abrupt rip of a band aid. If it was coming she wanted it done and over with, now, ever impatient.
Not much else carried over. None of the considered āperks.ā Her teeth remained the same, but there was -
Something.
āIāmā¦ā Katherine breathed in through her nose and held it, absent-mindedly toying with the daylight necklace. Sheād been in the kitchen, trying to get an appetite because it smelled delicious but her mouth wasnāt watering, and her stomach hadnāt been rumbling for it. Maybe it was nerves killing her appetite, or maybe it was something else. āNevermind, itās probably nothing - but I dreamt about making it to Mystic Falls, finally in the modern era. Damonās obsession with me put a wrench in my plans, but Iāve been gathering the needed ingredients for Klausā ritual as a peace offering.ā
Snort. That included the doppelgƤnger that came after her. Her own descendant. Sister in this life. And sheād encountered Isobel and John, too, her alleged biological parents.
Elijah listened carefully. Some people took a little more reading between the lines than others. He still wasnāt sure what the nothing could be, though. Maybe heād work it out of her in time. āIf you believe it is soā¦ā He paused at the mention of Mystic Falls. She would soon be caught up with him. He wondered if she would forgive him for his actions once she had experienced them again. But then he did worry a little more than strictly necessary at times. āDamon does seem the sort to do...things he shouldnāt. Then again, he is...well, he was...Stefan is perhaps the more level-headed of the two, but his loyalty to his brother could get him into trouble.ā Later. Elijah had dreamt of him trying to make a deal, the end of which he had missed due to his own brother shoving a dagger into his heart. āBut I am not one to talk.ā
He absently reached up to touch the place where the dagger went in. āI would say that I hoped you knew what you were doing when it came to Niklaus, but I think we both know that he is not trustworthy and that one has to choose their words carefully when talking to him.ā Plating the food, he picked it up and put it down on the table. āItās not fancy waffles, but itās something.ā A pause. āIs there anything you want to drink? I have a fairly extensive liquor collection these days.ā
Damon, āthe bad boy.ā He wasnāt always. Katherine could be blamed for that - he was smitten by her, unafraid of what she was and blindly worshipped the ground she walked on and was so stubborn, trying not to care that she was sleeping with his brother too. He was the brother that loved her too much, and Stefan the one that didnāt love her enough.
Supposedly, anyway. Look at his choice of women. Or, more accurately, some little orphan teenager that set them up for a shitty tween romance novel.
āI havenāt eaten anything all day, so Iāll stick with water,ā she smirked, taking a seat at the table. Truth be told she hadnāt devoured anything at all because her appetite had gone to hell anyway, and she hoped by now sheād have a hankering for food - it smelled good, what Elijah made - but she couldnāt bring herself eager to eat. Sheād try, on the stance alone that she needed to at least eat something. āBut anyway, Iām desperate for freedom and am apparently about to rip the town to shreds if I donāt get my way. And from what Iām guessing, I donāt, and Elena becomes the coddled little snowlfake sheās always been. Surprise, surprise.ā
Damon and Stefan, they saw in Elena what they wanted Katherine to be, she was sure - and now theyād be feuding over someone with her face but a more-than-righteous personality. Issues, much?
āWater it is.ā His gaze lingered on her for a moment as he went to grab a glass of water for her. He passed it to her as he listened to her talk about her sister...even though she wasnāt her sister in the dreams. The oddities of it all. It was a wonder there werenāt others. Thereād had to have been an original doppelgƤnger, but he couldnāt remember anything about it other than there was one. Someone who also looked like Katherine. āThat does sound a little like you,ā he said, smiling to himself. āThough, I remember when you were...Katerina.ā
The oddity of it was that the girl heād fallen in love with was Katerina. Katherine was...different. Not that he could blame her. Had he been more forthcoming and not chased her through the woods like he had...perhaps things might have been different. Had he stood up to his brother, things might have been different. So many could-have-beens existed that Elijah wasnāt entirely sure where to start. Henrik was not Niklausā fault. At least he had not gone out with the intention of their brotherās death. Henrikās death did start something it shouldnāt have all the same. Followed by their fatherās treatment of his brother.
āI canāt fault her entirely. I suppose she did put a dagger through my heart, but then I did get better.ā He decided against mentioning the fact that heād mistaken Elena for Katherine when he first awoke after sheād removed the dagger. His mind had been a bit cloudy at the time. He seated himself at the table after pouring himself a drink.
āBut from what I can tell, you havenāt torn up the whole town. But then I made the mistake of trusting Niklaus again and you are free. Which is really only bad news on my end.ā Except, perhaps, for the part before being free.
Free, he says. Katherine doubted it. Klaus doesnāt just let go of things, and it was a rage that fired on for five hundred years because she spoiled his plan. God forbid she wanted to do this thing called, you know, live. āOh, goody,ā she scoffed, sardonic. āIf Klaus makes his merry way in I doubt Iād be the one making the blood rain as it is - did that potion you have work, by the way?ā
The one heād had made for her, but now Elijahās eyes were set on saving poor, delicate little human Elena - like itād make up for what happened in the past. It was petty to feel bitter about it, but she felt it away with the full knowledge that it logically made no damn difference here.
But from the looks of it? Elena had it better than she had. Family, friends thatād give anything to protect her, and all she could think about was that she had no one when she was put into Klausā crosshairs.
The potion. Elijah almost laughed, but he resisted. āI donāt know. Damon...decided to force vampire blood on her without her consent before I could test it. I told him that she would never forgive him, but such is life.ā His expression was neutral enough. āBut John gave up his life to keep her from becoming a vampire. As one does.ā Not that heād ever expected his parents to do anything like that. Turn their entire family into vampires, yes. Give up their lives for their children? Questionable.
āAnd now Klaus is a hybrid, so there is no killing him at all. Oh...and I am in a coffin with a dagger through my heart. So there goes that.ā His annoyance with his brother due to the dreams was a little high at the moment. āEzio was a little less than pleased to wake up to find me with a dagger in my heart. In fact, I believe he told me to go fuck myself with a donkey...and fuck my dead relatives. Or something to that effect. All of this was in Italian, butā¦ā He shrugged. It was a side effect of being worried.
āI still have not informed him about the coffin in my guest bedroom. Iām trying to figure out how to explain that one. Outside of, āThis is the prison my brother made for me because he is truly delightfulā.ā He downed his drink, moving to grab the bottle so he didnāt have to get up each time. āIām not certain I could leave them alone in a room together without consequences. At least not with that lingering over things.ā And he was in the middle of trying to decide if getting rid of the coffin would do him any good. Locking up the dagger clearly didnāt.
Katherineās eyes could have rolled from their sockets. Of course, the golden twin was so helpless she had people in a frenzy trying to figure something out for her - and she assumed that her solution was self-righteous martyrdom. God, she hoped Elena stayed wherever the fuck she was studying abroad.
āYou havenāt told your boyfriend about the creepy vampire coffin?ā she inquired, a finely sculpted brow raised. She was making efforts into cutting into the chicken and then stabbing it with the fork, but she just waved it in his general direction for the moment. āWhatās it hurt? You could always get rid of it anyway - unless itās imbued with some kind of witchy magic thatād make it useful, or unless you want to keep it for your own emotionally masochistic sense of attachment.ā
āNo. I have not.ā He frowned. āWho wants to show off their creepy vampire coffin anyway?ā Especially when it was another sign of his brotherās lifetime of anger toward him. It was a reminder that he trusted his siblings too much and that he let his brother get away with far too much, let him control too much. He wanted to believe he would change, he really did. He wanted to believe he could be the person heād known before...but no one was the person they were before.
āNo. I donāt think that it is imbued with any witchy magic.ā He considered it. āI am not interested in keeping it. I may be an emotional masochist, but I have no need for a coffin. Especially not this one.ā He sighed, eating some of the food for the sake of something to do. He felt bad that it wasnāt as good as it used to be. Being a vampire ruined the simplest of things. āI just need to figure out getting it out.ā Which would probably be easier if he told Ezio. He couldnāt exactly toss it out the window.
Coffins for vampires were so cliche, anyway - whoād want to sleep in one? Katherine preferred a California King Bed with Mulberry satin sheets and four pillows, at the very least. āYouāre an original vampire, Elijah, youāre not lacking in the strength department,ā she chuckled. āPut a picture of Klausā face in it and smash it to pieces. Itās therapeutic. Especially with all he put you through, like, oh, a dagger to your heart?ā
Nothing said sibling love like a series of stabbings. Talk about maniacal.
Anyway, she managed to swallow a bite of the meat after a slow chew. Her tastebuds still felt human, but there was just something so unsatisfying about food. She dreaded to come to terms with what that meant for her. āThough Iām - well, I might need some advice. Speaking about things we havenāt old our partners yet?ā
A little odd, how that rolled off her tongue so easily. Relationships didnāt last long with Katherine for varying reasons but she wanted this one to thrive. Hank was everything good she ever wanted to be, in a way. āItās not like itās this terrible secret Iām keeping, but I havenāt told him about my teenage stunt of pregnancy.ā It almost didnāt even seem necessary. There wasnāt a daughter in the picture and she was only a mother in biological terms, though it was probably something to bring up soon. Courtesy, or whatever.
Heād known about her indiscretions in the dreams, but he didnāt know how close it mirrored to what sheād gone through. Poetic that a young genius that could change the world ended up dating a fuck up of an almost teenage mother who clawed her way up the modeling ranks for fame, huh?
āYou have a point. We might have a bonfire afterwards.ā And then it would be gone. All trace of it would be gone. āYes. I am told itās not the first time. I just donāt recall the other times.ā Which was annoying. Everything was out of order and jumbled. He couldnāt comprehend why his dreams made little to no sense when it came to timelines.
But she needed advice, so Elijah found himself sitting a little straighter. āOh?ā He was happy that sheād found someone she seemed keen to keep around. He wanted her to be happy. So if he had to help her navigate a little, he would. Even if he felt like he was navigating blindly half the time. But he found his way. He nodded at her words. āIt may not be terrible, of course, but it may beā¦ā He tapped his fingers against the table. āPerhaps it would be wise to mention it now to avoid any awkwardness in the future. Even if nothing happens...If he cares for you, then it will be fine.ā A pause. āIām not saying you need to tell him right away, but eventually.ā
Eventually. Sounded like a plan, and sheād been looking for a window to bring it up - it wasnāt something she wanted to spring on him out of the blue, either, but she didnāt want to keep dragging it out longer than necessary. To others she could brush off what happened as a mistake, young and dumb love, something that didnāt matter anymore.
To Hank, she probably couldnāt be so blase about it. He knew how much losing her daughter stung in the dreams - and even composed a song about it.
āI know, and itās not something Iām usually not scared to bring up, but -ā Her brows furrowed and she paused to nibble on sauteed broccoli, like she needed time to collect the words. āIt feels awkward. Maybe because thereās a part of me that is worried heād pass judgment.ā
It was a stupid feeling. Katherine didnāt think he would, but sometimes emotions liked to irrationalize the rational.
āBecause you like him.ā Elijah understood. Though, heād been rather upfront about the vampire thing. Being a vampire and the problematic familial situation were the biggest things. Heād been concerned about other things, of course, but those things seemed the most important. Outside of the part where heād never been with another man in his life. āLiking someone makes it difficult to keep from worrying that even little things arenāt troubling.ā
He gave her a small smile. āBut...if he is as nice as you say, he will be fine and so will you. If not, then he was clearly not worth the time. I donāt know him well, but you are friends with me, so that at least increases your probability of making positive choices when it comes to who to spend time on.ā A little teasing. āBut then there was Klausā¦ā And a little more.
āItās not easy to put your trust in someone like that, to give them the chance to reject you or some part of you, but I think...perhaps trying is the important part. Itās the only way to know for sure how someone will react.ā Should the man in question hurt her, Elijah had no doubt Katherine could handle him, but Elijah would still likely have something to say. āAnd you know where to find me if you need me.ā
Such a wise Mikaelson, wasnāt he? And so different from the nobleman who didnāt believe in love, back when she was the doe-eyed lamb in a pit of lions. There was a part of Katherine who still believed in that sort of thing but you had to dig for it a little - she had loved the Salvatore brothers too (Stefan more than Damon, but) though that love was all wrong. Manipulative and obsessive.
She wanted to give this whole thing an actual try for once, without restraint or regret.
Her cherry-stained lips smiled coyly. āItās solid advice,ā she chuckled, toying with her food. āLook at you, Elijah. So to echo a conversation five hundred years in the past in a different lifetime, do you believe in the whole love thing now?ā
Elijah had a feeling he lied to himself quite often in the dreams. Perhaps love was complicated due to the fact that he seemed to quite easily give up on the idea should it interfere with his brother's happiness in any way. Or his plans. It depended. He wasn't sure if Klaus was ever truly happy.
There was a smile at the question. āI would have a very angry Italian on my hands if I said no. Not that I would. Terrifying as it is to admit it, I am in love.ā He paused, thinking on something for a moment. āI'm not sure I actually expected to have that. I do have a bad habit of letting my family influence things before I can figure it out for myself.ā Which was to do with years of putting himself second or third while making sure his siblings were taken care of. He wasn't the parent, but sometimes he felt like one. āDo you still believe in it?ā
Jealousy didnāt claw at her like it once did. In the end, the best she could hope for was that the people she cared about were happy - and thatās what she wanted despite how selfish she could be, how selfish she had seen herself be. What happened with Stefan and Damon was a startling wake up call, and the way she pined and stalked the latter was an embarrassing and painful truth she wished she could fucking unsee once and for all.
And Elijah was happy, and Katherine actually liked Ezio. They were a good fit.
āI never stopped, truthfully,ā she admitted with exasperation - all at herself. āThe notion got lost there for awhile, but I want to stick this one out and see if itāll get there.ā Grumble. There was a roll of her eyes, too, because she detested how sappy it sounded but it was all sincere.
Elijah felt himself smiling a little. āGood. I had hoped to find you of a similar mind.ā Perhaps a little relieved to find that he was not always wrong about people. He leaned in a little. āAnd I think I lied to you then. I donāt believe I was quite as cynical about love as I led you to believe. I just have hideous luck.ā And a terrible habit of developing feelings for people his brother liked as well. At least this once. He didnāt know about any others at the moment.
But it was nice not to have to worry about this now. He really hoped his brother didnāt suddenly end up with an interest outside of friendly for his partner. Then again, he would not be of a mind to give him up, so that was a step in the right direction, he felt. āI hope, for your sake, it turns out well. You deserve to be happy.ā Perhaps they had both fallen into the trap of sappiness. āAnd as much as I mean that, I fear we will both make ourselves sick if we keep up this way, soā¦ā
Hideous luck, and shit ways of handling situations. Katherine included. But this time around they could learn from their mistakes - second chances like this didnāt come for most of the world anyway, and she didnāt want to waste it. It was strange to have hope when she knew her human death was looming closer and closer every day.
āSaid and done,ā she snorted in agreement. āIāve had enough affirmations for one day - youāre shoving me towards that drink, Elijah.ā
That made him laugh. āWell, I can only encourage drinking habits at this point. If only because I cannot be the only one.ā He turned to get another glass and put it in front of her. The bottle was already there. If she wanted a drink, she could, but he left that choice up to her. āBut I am sorry to have caused you to drink. Probably. Iām just a terrible influence, honestly.ā
āYouāve been nothing but the best influence, sadly,ā came her bemused retort, pouring herself just a little bit - or a shotās worth, thatās all she could handle on a mostly empty stomach. āCheers, to whatever the hell direction our love lives are headed to.ā